Understanding Hope

„May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope!“ Romans 15,13. This verse is a prayer. Why am I emphasizing this? The prayers of the New Testament reveal our true potential in Christ. They show us what, who and how we can be. If we want to understand and enjoy our faith, we cannot without understanding hope. In the Bible, the two are almost like Siamese twins who cannot (or should not) really be separated. They are mentioned several times next to each other in the scriptures, the best-known are probably: 1. Corinthians 13,13: „So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.“ Hebrews 11,1: „Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.“ Biblical hope is not to be confused with our everyday use of the word, where it often means wishful thinking or an expectation of what is not totally certain to be received. In the New Testament, hope is something sure and firm, like an anchor: „So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for re-fuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek“ Hebrews 6,17-20.